Sedlec ossuary (Czech Republic) bans selfies due to lack of respect from visitors
An ossuary is a morbid work of art of birth, in which death becomes a totem , in a construction, to admire, between astonishment and morbidity, how is that what remains when we are no longer . An ossuary inevitably calls our attention, oh, living and morbid beings. But everything has a limit.
The ** Sedlec ossuary ** (located under the church of the Cemetery of All Saints in Kutná Hora), is for the Czechs (with their good dose of morbidity, we do not say no) a place of pilgrimage, prayer and almost meditation . or was it . The Instagram phenomenon has not left unscathed the rooms of this place where rest the bones of more than 40,000 skeletons.
"Sedlec has been open to tourism since the 1960s, but mass tourism started in the 80s , after the Velvet Revolution. Visits grow very fast: in 2018 there were almost 450,000 visits a year; this year, more than half a million ", comments Radka Krejci, director of the organization of the Kutná Hora parish. But the behavior of some of these visitors has made them decide to prohibit any type of photography (and especially, of the selfies) *although with some other exception.
And we return to reflect on the big question: can everything be photographed?
"We began to perceive dishonest behaviors a few years ago, with the greatest influence of social networks. We decided to wait after the summer to make the decision, but in that time we witnessed so much disrespect (which we could see in photos and videos uploaded to the networks), that we decided to ban any kind of photo Radka recounts.
Sedlec, more than 40,000 skeletons are watching you
And she continues: "Many of the visitors they touch the bones, rearrange them, put them where they want for the photo They even lie down to take the photo they want. And when it comes to selfies, they put faces of horror, mockery, or they make some sign with their fingers". These behaviors have to do with the total lack of interest in knowing the place, the history and, therefore, show the respect due to the ossuary.
"We are very grateful to all those who visit us, because that allows us to maintain the place, rebuild the church... but, on the other hand, we want those who come to understand the place ", reflects the director.
Sedlec is pure ancestral history of Kutná Hora , the church was part of the oldest Cistercian complex in the Czech Republic and the bones are real. They are our ancestors: It is not a tourist attraction or a house of terror, it is a large tomb of about 60,000 people, "she says.
The Sedlec Staircase
THE STORY OF THE SEDLEC OSSUARY
In 1278 , the abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Sedlec , he visited Jerusalem at the command of the King of Bohemia. From his trip he brought soil from Golgotha (from 'Calvary', the alleged place where Jesus Christ was crucified), soil that he scattered around the monastery and that became, from then on , a place of pilgrimage and the graveyard in which the population wanted to be buried.
The Gothic church began to be built in the fifteenth century, and under it, an ossuary to be able to bury all those people who so wished. This ossuary remained that way until 1870, when Frantisek Rit , a local cabinetmaker, was asked to 'tidy up' the ossuary. The result, to this day, continues to attract the attention of thousands of people.
In particular, the great chandelier, created only from bones (they say that all the bones that make up the human body are present) is striking.
PHOTOGRAPHS IN SEDLEC: PROHIBITED OR ON PRIOR REQUEST
The exceptions that we talked about before involve making a prior request to the Episcopate or through the Sedlec site (request that must be made at least three days before the visit).
The idea, with this method, is to make sure that the person visiting Sedlec know exactly what's going on , and previously reported of what he will see and what the rules of the place are. A simple way to prevent, once again, a place of silence and respect from becoming an undeserved circus.